Intel 2010/2011 SSD Roadmap

[Ian]

A roadmap showing Intel's upcoming SSD's has leaked onto the internet. I've attached it below, but here are the details:

X25-E - "Lyndonville" SSDs will be released in Q1 2011 in 100GB, 200GB and 400GB capacities. These drive will use enterprise-grade 25nm MLC NAND flash and feature encryption, S.M.A.R.T. support and enhanced write performance.

X25-M - "Postville" refresh will be released in Q4 2010 in 160GB, 300GB and 600GB capacities. These drive will use 25nm MLC NAND flash and feature encryption, S.M.A.R.T. support and enhanced write performance.

X18-M - Line will be refreshed in Q1 2011. New 160GB and 300GB SSDs will use 25nm MLC NAND flash.

X25-V - Value line will get an 80GB SSD in Q4 2010 and a refreshed 40GB SSD in Q1 2011. Both will use 25nm MLC NAND flash

Intel will also be introducing a new line of Small-Form Factor (SFF) mSATA SSD's at the end of 2010. Available in 40GB and 80GB capacities, these "Soda Creed" SSDs will use 34nm MLC NAND flash.

Intel 2010 SSD Roadmap.jpg (112.3 KiB) Viewed 4970 times

[SkaarjMaster]

2012/2013 should be my next computer build and I'll definitely be getting an SSD or two for it.

[Jim]

Intel just released the "Elmcrest" SSD using their 34 nm flash and a Marvell controller with "Intel" firmware. Amazon and Newegg just listed them today, but only Newegg has them in stock. Higher sequential transfer rates, but the limited reviews show slower random 4k benchmarks. Still waiting for Anandtech's review and benchmarking, but if I was going to get a latest generation drive with reliability a concern, the Intel looks like a good deal. Still anticipating Lyndonville and Postville when they finally hit with 25nm Intel flash. Until them I'm using an Intel X25-E 32 gig drive as a system drive with an Intel X25-M 160 gig (2nd gen) drive as a scratch disk. Wish the X25-E had trim though.

[Ian]

I read the review over at storagereview.com. Performance was awful. Makes me wonder if there's an issue with the LSI controller card they used.

[Ian]

Not the controller. Random reads and writes were just as bad at Anandtech.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4202/the- ... 0-review/4

[Jim]

Yea, just finished reading his review too. The everyday usage benchmark wasn't that bad, but some of the random read/write tests fall slightly behind the 2nd gen 160 gig SSD. I wish they would use an Intel or AMD platform with a native Sata3 controller instead of add-in boards.

[Jim]

Broke down and bought one of the new Intel 320 series 300 gig drives to replace my 32 gig Intel-E 32 gig C: drive with the Newegg 10% off sale last week. It was a pain using a secondary drive for documents, swap, ect and the new drive has TRIM support and improved sequential writes and random read/writes over the old mainstream drives. It actually is spec'ed better than the Intel-E SLC drives, although I haven't seen a heads up comparison. I think the Intel 320 series is the ideal drive for most people with SATA 3.0 Gbps motherboards. I just don't trust OCZ with the failure of my Indilinx Vertex and some of the questionable engineering/marketing decisions they made with the Vertex 2 and the switch to 22 nm MLC.

[Ian]

One of my co-workers had their OCZ SSD fail last week. I guess the controller failed on it. Kinda sucks because it was in his laptop and had all his data on it.

A lot of people have dumped on the 320 series for its mediocre performance but I think that many forget that SATA 6Gb/s still isn't mainstream. In a laptop or desktop with just SATA 3 Gb/s, its an excellent choice. I still haven't figured out if its the one being made by Lite-On or not.

[SithTracy]

Not ready to trust SSD myself... Want to, but just can't, and not at those prices. #1, I think a better file system needs to be in place to make them more efficient. #2, They need to stand the test of time... something they have not had time to do.